FOLLOWING a disruptive 18 months, the Swan Hill region’s Year 12 students are preparing for more testing times.
St Mary MacKillop College captains Campbell Kelly and Toni Mia Scalora will join their cohort when VCE exams begin next month.
“I am feeling good towards doing my VCE exams and I am just really excited to be able to get all of them finished,” Campbell said.
“I am aware that the exams are going to be hard, but I believe that I am up for the challenge.”
Campbell is studying accounting, business management, health and human development, English and further maths.
He was hoping to study a Bachelor of Accounting in Melbourne next year.
Toni Mia is studying physical education, literature, health and human development and physics.
She was also hoping to live in Melbourne, at Australian Catholic University to complete a Bachelor of Education.
Campbell said the biggest challenge being in and out of remote learning was studying new topics online.
“Another way that being in and out of the classroom was hard was keeping motivation to complete all our work, and then continue to do more study and homework after the school day,” he said.
Campbell believed it would be a fairly normal Year 12 experience when Victoria was almost COVID free in January.
“We didn’t think that we would be thrown back into remote learning as a Year 12 student,” he said.
“It has been disappointing that our last year of education has also been affected by the pandemic.”
For Toni Mia, walking, exercising and maintaining adequate sleeping patterns were important coping mechanisms to remain focused.
She said this was aided by supportive and understanding teachers.
“They have been sending care packages home and giving up more of their time to make sure that we are managing our study and that we are mentally okay,” Toni Mia said.
She supported a push for students to be granted mental health days off.
“When it comes to online schooling, there is a lot of work overload as well as a lack of motivation,” Toni Mia admitted.
“With mental health days off – during online schooling – it gives students a chance to catch up on their work, hence reducing stress levels.”
Toni Mia said Year 12 students should have returned to the classroom much earlier.
“It is the most important year of our education lives,” he said.
“It determines the future of whether students want to join the workforce right away or go away to university.
“The fact that Year 12s did not return sooner has changed the direction of what many students wanted to do in the future.”
Toni Mia, who has been vaccinated, also said her cohort should have been given priority vaccinations weeks before it was announced.
“We are now on a tight schedule to be able to get all Year 12s vaccinated when we knew beforehand that we had a deadline before exams.”
